The government has just reviewed its energy strategy or Basic Energy Plan — the first review in four years. In the 2017 COP23 United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Bonn, Germany, an international network of nongovernmental organizations awarded the Fossil of the Day prize to Japan. But in reviewing its energy strategy, Japan has declared that it will meet the challenge of developing new energy sources and technologies and achieving decarbonization under a long-term timetable stretching to 2050 by taking into consideration the Paris agreement adopted at the 2015 COP21 conference.
The energy landscape has undergone rapid changes in recent years.
First, the prices of energy from renewable sources have fallen on a global scale and new endeavors to develop new technologies for decarbonization, such as energy storage and digital control technologies needed for large-scale introduction of renewable energy, have started with the participation of a wide range of industrial sectors.